People Are Revealing What They Regret Most About Their College Degrees

Here’s what graduates regret the most about college

Most regretted college degrees — and the degrees graduates wish they had pursued instead

College graduates regret

Some experts say the value of a four-year degree is fading and more emphasis should be directed toward career training. A growing number of companies, including many in tech, are also dropping degree requirements for many middle-skill and even higher-skill roles.

However, earning a degree is almost always worthwhile, according to “The College Payoff,” a report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

Bachelor’s degree holders generally earn 84% more than those with just a high school diploma, the report said — and the higher the level of educational attainment, the larger the payoff.

When broken down by areas of study, however, the difference is striking. Students who pursue a major specifically in science, technology, engineering, and math — collectively known as STEM disciplines — are projected to earn the most overall.

In addition to STEM, health and business majors are among the highest paying, leading to average annual wages that are higher at the entry-level and significantly greater over the course of a career compared with liberal arts and humanities majors, the Georgetown Center found.

Still, 44% of all job seekers with college degrees regret their field of study.

Journalism, sociology, communications, and education all topped the list of most-regretted college majors, according to ZipRecruiter’s survey of more than 1,500 college graduates who were looking for a job.

They have any regrets about their college degree, and the answers varied a lot. Here are some of them.

“Not following my gut about what I wanted to study. I’ve always been very interested in the arts, but only ever okay with STEM subjects. I got talked into entering college as a science major because of the potentially better job prospects. This led me to have a bad time with my intro science courses because I wasn’t that interested in them. I trashed my GPA and switched to an arts major anyway. I’m several years out now and about to start law school. Sometimes I think about all the things I could’ve done/been if I had just done what I wanted to from the start.”

“I regret comparing myself and my academic path with other students. I have no aptitude for STEM, and I wish I’d just accepted my natural abilities and interests instead of envying the premeds so much. I tried so desperately to fit myself into some sort of prestigious ‘mold’ all the time that I never gave myself the opportunity to try to discover who I really am.”

“I regret not changing my major. I went in choosing English because I’d had years of excelling at it, but I’d taken my first psychology class my senior year of high school, and it absolutely blew my mind. I enjoyed it more than any English class I’d ever had and really wanted to choose it as my college major. However, my mom wanted me to be an English teacher because it was what she had always wanted to do, and I was so severely afraid of disappointing her that I stuck with English even though I could barely stand it. I did well in all my English classes, but I enjoyed the psych classes so, so much more. Now I’m stuck with a virtually useless English degree, not wanting to be a teacher.”

Gravitas Plus: Do you regret your college degree and your choice of subject? Watch this.

“I regret switching my major now because my interests changed. Originally, I wanted to be a forensic biologist, so I was on track to get a BS in biology. However, I lost interest in forensics and took some time off from college. I returned and instead obtained a BA in art.”

“If I had to do it all over again, I would major in biology, with a focus on wildlife, and minor in art. But I’m in my mid-30s now, and I just don’t want to do another four years of schooling.”

“If I could go back knowing what I know now, I’d probably major in something boring and practical that would lead to a job that wouldn’t drain me creatively so I could focus on doing creative things outside of work.”